


The Pavlovian Response of a Purr

by Silent_So_Long



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-23
Updated: 2011-10-23
Packaged: 2017-10-24 21:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/268295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silent_So_Long/pseuds/Silent_So_Long
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim Kirk purrs when he is touched in the right way</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pavlovian Response of a Purr

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the following anonymous prompt on the buckleup_meme - [AOS. When touched just right Jim purrs, pretty literally. Bones makes it a personal mission to make Jim purr everyday.](http://buckleup-meme.livejournal.com/5309.html?thread=913341#t913341)  
> Also serves as my Fourth entry in the [Halloween Challenge 2011.](http://buckleup-meme.livejournal.com/8433.html)

The first time that Leonard McCoy noticed anything a little out of the ordinary about Jim Kirk was while in the midst of the Sickbay. Jim had just returned from an away mission, replete with cuts and bruises scattered about his weary face and body, hair tousled and riddled with glass and cuts. According to Jim, some kind of a small bomb had gone off in the conference centre he was in, installed by the Romulans to get to the Vulcans in residence.

Jim had been near one of the multitude of windows in the centre when the bomb had blown, which explained the evidence of glass upon his person. The residual cuts and bruises that was not from flying shards of glass was placed there in the general melee of people and Vulcans trying to stream from the place. It had been Leonard’s concern that the bomb had not killed anyone. Jim had assured him that, luckily, that wasn’t the case and explained that the device had malfunctioned, emitting a pulse rather than a true explosion. Leonard had grunted and set about plucking shards of glass from the captain’s hair.

Jim had his eyes closed while Leonard worked, a relaxed expression softening Jim’s features. Leonard had to smile at that; no matter how friendly and open Jim was with everyone, Leonard had rarely ever seen the other man truly relaxed. Being a people person was amongst the most desired of attributes to be an effective Starfleet captain, but what good was that when said captain didn’t have time for himself? Sometimes, Leonard wondered and worried about Jim, and it was more than just a doctor’s concern. It was a lover’s concern, too.

And then Leonard heard it. As he was combing shards of glass from the crown of Jim’s head, he heard a sound that could only be described as a purr. Leonard frowned at that, and almost barked an order at a passing nurse to go find the cat in the room, when he realized, with a jolt of surprise, that it was actually Jim that was purring. As an experiment, Leonard purposefully moved his hands to the back of Jim’s neck and the purring stopped. He moved his hands back to the crown of the other man’s head and started stroking, and the purr came back in full force. Smiling to himself, Leonard continued to work, deciding to tease Jim about it at a later date, when he wasn’t too busy in the sickbay.

The next time that Leonard noticed the purr, was when they were alone together, Jim cradled against Leonard’s body comfortably, the captain’s back a sturdy line against the other man’s chest and abdomen. Jim was loose-limbed and relaxed, head cushioned upon Leonard’s shoulder. The doctor could feel by the set of Jim’s body that the captain was almost asleep, chest rising and falling in deep and steady rhythms, breath slowing to a relaxed beat.

It was at times like this that Leonard realised that Jim could only be described as truly relaxed when he was alone with the doctor. It was as though Jim felt safe there, in Leonard’s presence, in his arms and the pressure to impress the crew no longer existed. The ship’s doctor had already been impressed and conquered by Jim, and there was nothing left to prove between them. Leonard had to smile at that, and he kissed the crown of Jim’s head, lips lingering against the soft strands of the other man’s hair. He inhaled slightly, scenting the soft cinnamon scents of Jim’s shampoo and the musky aroma of Jim himself.

“I got you, darlin,” Leonard murmured, against Jim’s head. “You don’t have to pretend a thing with me.”

He kissed Jim’s head again and that was when he heard the purr again. He chuckled against Jim’s head and nuzzled the other man’s crown purposefully. The purrs, if anything, grew louder still, rumbling in Jim’s chest as the other man arched into Leonard’s touch pleasurably.

“More,” Jim mumbled, and even his tone, replete with purrs, sounded like the most contented of cats.

“Damnit, Jim,” Leonard chuckled against the other man’s hair.

“Wha - ?” Jim asked, sleepily, cutting into his purring again to ask the question.

He tried to twist around to stare at Leonard questioningly, yet Leonard wouldn’t let him. The doctor tightened his hold just enough to let Jim know that he didn't want the captain to move. Jim snuffled out a sleepy yawn and settled back against Leonard comfortably. In time, his eyes drooped closed and his purring began again in earnest as Leonard continued to press soft kisses to the crown of his head.

“Damnit, Jim, you’re a Starfleet captain, not a goddamn cat,” the doctor finally murmured against Jim’s head, breath riffling the fine hair in little huffs.

“Wha - ?” Jim asked again, voice sounding drugged with sleep.

“You purr,” Leonard replied, warmth pervading his voice now.

“Hmm-hmm,” Jim said, sleepily, before his purrs resumed.

Leonard smiled and allowed Jim to slide effortlessly into sleep upon him, finding Jim’s weight a comfort, not a hindrance. Soon, Leonard, too, was asleep, cheek propped against the top of Jim’s head as his eyes drooped closed into pleasurable dreams.

The next time Leonard noticed The Purr - capitalized, thank-you-very-much-because-it’s-important, Leonard thought - was when he shared a shower with Jim one morning. Leonard had his fingers tangled in Jim's hair, massaging great dollops of shampoo against the other man’s scalp. He hit the crown of Jim’s head just right and unleashed great cavalcades of purrs from his lover.

It was then that Leonard thought, with a smile, that he would do everything he could to try and make Jim purr at every conceivable opportunity, every day, if need be. It seemed, to the doctor, as though that one sound was an involuntary vocalisation of just how happy Jim was, negating the need for words completely.

It all started on the Bridge, when Leonard, completely taking everyone by surprise, pecked a kiss to the back of Jim’s head as soon as he reached the captain’s chair. Leonard usually abhorred public displays of attention; despite the fact the whole crew knew he was in a very serious relationship with Jim, Leonard believed that all manner of affectionate gestures should be reserved for more private moments between them. Amongst the gaping faces of the bridge crew, the resultant brief purr was worth every single one of the stares and the swiftly hidden chuckles behind upraised hands.

The following day, Leonard laid his hand upon the back of the captain’s head while in the rec room, ruffling the captain’s hair affectionately, eliciting snorts from Scotty who happened to be sitting next to Jim. Jim, himself, had his eyes closed, leaning back into Leonard’s touch slightly, while purrs rumbled in his throat and chest.

The day after that, it happened while in the turbo-lift. They’d snatched a brief respite from staring crew members while alone in the lift, mouths crashing together in a heated, searing kiss, and then Leonard’s hand rose and brushed purposefully against the crown of Jim’s head. Jim had immediately started to purr, vibrations rumbling against Leonard’s lips and against the length of his body, turning the doctor on so much, it was painful. He was only glad that they were headed for Jim’s quarters and he could work off some of his pent up arousal through frantic rounds of sex with his lover.

And so it went on. Every day, Leonard applied pressure to that one point on Jim’s head, making the captain lean against him, helpless and purring loudly and contentedly. Leonard caught himself thinking that The Purr was much like a Pavlovian response by the end of the week; his own hands being the trigger, and the purr the response. Jim almost begged, without words, for Leonard to touch him in that special place, big blue eyes turning to Leonard’s strong hands expectantly whenever the chief medical officer came close enough to him. Leonard, forever obliging, always did.

Finally, Jim had to ask why Leonard kept persisted in touching the back of his head. Leonard sighed, and replied.

“It’s ‘cos you purr, kid,” he said, suddenly unable to meet the captain’s gaze.

“I do not,” Jim laughed, thinking that the doctor was joking.

“It would seem the good doctor is quite correct with his hypothesis, Jim. You do, in fact, purr, and quite loudly, I may point out,” Spock provided, from where he stood nearby, proving that the Vulcan had been blatantly listening in to their conversation, instead of talking to Uhura as he should have been.

“Shut up,” Leonard barked at Spock. “Keep your pointy ears out of other people’s business, you damn nosy bastard.”

“Fascinating,” Spock replied, as he raised an eyebrow delicately at Leonard. “And might I point out that I was actually trying to help you out, for once?”

“Yeah, for once,” Leonard ground back. “When you’re not supposed to be listening, you help. We might have been talking about something private, like what we did in bed last night.”

“That information you can quite gladly keep to yourselves, I assure you,” Spock replied, coolly.

“Yeah, we would have done if you hadn’t been so goddamn nosy,” Leonard said back. ”You have the ears of a devil, you know.”

“Bones,” Jim said, laughing, even as he laid one hand upon Leonard’s forearm to reel the irate doctor in. “He was trying to help. Let him agree with you for once. Wallow in the backwash of rare Vulcan approval.”

Leonard harrumphed, yet abruptly dropped the issue with Spock. The Vulcan however took a hint from Leonard’s continued and pointed glare, by moving Uhura off to a safe distance where neither would be likely to be ignited by a doctor’s medically induced death glare.

“Okay, so I purr,” Jim conceded, with a nod. “Why do you keep insisting upon making me purr and potentially embarrassing me in front of my crew?”

“It’s not embarrassing. No one‘s embarrassed. In fact, no one has even commented upon it,” Leonard contradicted, still keeping an eye on the nearby Vulcan possibly snooping. “They giggled at first, admittedly, but I think most think it’s quite cute, to borrow the turn of phrase from Uhura.“

“Cute,” Jim repeated, with some degree of disgust. “I’m not sure I like being cute, Bones.”

Leonard had to grin at that, before he said - “If it makes you feel any better, Jim, I think it’s sexy.”

“Okay, sexy’s cool. I can deal with sexy,” Jim conceded, with a tilt of his head and a grin at Leonard.

“Good, ‘cos you’re never hearing me say that again sober, okay?” Leonard threatened, with a scowl at Jim. “I’m a doctor, not a public service announcer.”

Jim laughed at that, and said - “You know you just signed a warrant to enable me to get you drunk, right? I want you calling me sexy again.”

With those last words, Jim fluttered his eyelashes at Leonard coquettishly, to which Leonard scowled quite ferociously, clearly not amused by the other man’s behaviour.

“At least when you purr, I know when you're relaxed,” Leonard said. “It’s for the good of your health, Jim. You do need to relax more and I shouldn‘t even be telling you to do that, by the way.”

“Uh-huh, right, I get it,” Jim replied, with a knowing nod and a wink. “It’s purely a doctor thing. Right.”

“Okay, believe what you want. You always do,” Leonard sighed, pinching his lower lip with one upraised hand.

“If you’re so insistent that I relax more, then I suggest you do something about it,” Jim said, staring at Leonard’s hand pointedly, eyes turning large and pleading.

The other man sighed, before he said - “Alright. Come here, kid.”

Jim grinned and crowded into Leonard hopefully, waiting for Leonard’s hand to rise and start stroking the crown of his head against. On cue, Jim began to purr, eyelids drooping contentedly to hide his eyes from Leonard’s sight. The doctor could feel the vibrations through the twin layers of their clothing and it did little to prevent the erection he could feel pressing against the front of his pants. Jim’s purrs were better than any aphrodisiac, Leonard mused, not for the first time. He leant in, body pressed closer to Jim’s, staring at the other man’s mouth pointedly. When Jim opened his eyes, he smiled and closed the distance between them. They kissed, then, Leonard’s hand still snarled in the hair upon Jim’s crown, and Jim’s purrs continued unabated.

Jim was breathless by the time the kiss ended and he stared invitingly at Leonard.

“I know something else you can do to ensure I remain relaxed, Bones,” he said, with a pointed wink at the other man. “I’m sure you can spare five minutes.”

“Oh, hell no, darlin’. I’m gonna want longer than five minutes with you, right now,” Leonard said, eyes lust-blown and murky.

Jim grinned and led Leonard away wordlessly. The doctor followed willingly enough, and was proved right in his earlier comment; neither the doctor nor the captain was seen outside Leonard's quarters for over an hour after that.

~~ the end ~~


End file.
